Context:Mudam and Frac, Éditions Cantz, 2017Description:Concertina-fold cover with 4 panels15 ×30 cm, 224 pagesPhotographs: Aurélien MoleThis catalogue was produced for the exhibition Flatland, Abstractions narratives, curated by Marianne Derrien and Sarah Ihler-Meyer and consisting of two parts, the first at MRAC (Sérignan) and the second at MUDAM (Luxembourg). The works were inspired by the famous book Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott (the hero of which is a square) and put forward narratives based on abstract forms.
The book seeks to offer a “spatial installation” of the content. The sections, in axonometric lettering, are physically indicated by the colours of the concertina folds. The format of the book is based on a square (our hero too!) as is the grid of the page layout. The Swiss binding, exposing the black threads and glue, makes it possible to open the book out flat.
The two parts of the project are presented individually in the catalogue, the images taking us on a journey through the exhibition spaces. Different angles, reflections, multiple viewpoints and the handing of recto/verso accentuate the feeling of immersion.

Context:La Bibliothèque, Saint-Herblain, 2017Printed by: Art & CaractèreDescription: Leaflets, 5.5 ×20 cmThis reader’s guide (shaped like a bookmark) was designed to be a practical tool. Colour is used to indicate the different information sections, the leaflet opening out flat to allow the reader to consult the diagram. Combinations of two colours are used distinguish the different editions of this biannual publication. Its form, like an open book, refers symbolically to the aims of the many resources of this small town (no less than six libraries!).

Context:
Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 2017Description:13 ×19.5 cm, varying numbers of pagesThis new collection of essays, published by Réunion des Musées Nationaux, establishes a daring link between art and literature, inviting well-known authors to write texts inspired by particular exhibitions. The first two publications feature Zoé Valdés and Gaugin and Philippe Forest and Rubens.
The format of the books, the bulky paper and the thick and thin strokes of the Didot typeface immediately suggest that they are literary works. Acting as a counterbalance to this appearance and mimicking a (miniature) extract from an art catalogue, the endsheets present images of paintings on coated paper. The range of colours used for the various elements of the book (headband, bookmark, background colour of the end papers) is chosen in consultation with the painter. The coloured lettering of the first few pages then gives way to black, as is generally the rule for text in this kind of work.

Context:
Bibliothèque Hermeland, Saint-Herblain, 2017Printed by: LaplanteTypeface: Basetica, 205TFIn designing my first retrospective exhibition, held at the Bibliothèque Hermeland in Saint-Herblain, I had another opportunity of collaborating with Pernelle Poyet Called Swing, this exhibition allowed me to fill the surrounding space with movement and rhythm, echoing the conception of the compositions. The different projects formed links, overlapping and entering into a dialogue with one another in a single joyful movement. Giant “fridge magnets” arranged on a display wall created an autonomous partition. The swinging table and rocking furnishings meant that consulting the works displayed produced a swaying motion. Moveable letters forming the word SWING were placed at the entrance to the exhibition, visitors being free to rearrrange them as they wished…

Context:Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, 2017Printed by: Art & CaractèreDescription: 17.5×23.5 cm, 96 pagesTypefaces: Clifton and Basetica, 205TFThis exhibition catalogue presents a variety of different images: scientific, historical and artistic. The metallic ink constitutes a unifying visual background, linking the many different meteorites illustrated throughout the work.
The layout of the pages takes its inspiration from the idea of gravity (the text is placed at the top of the page with the images and titles at the bottom). The bluish sheen of the hot foil printing and the recurring motif of meteorites apparently suspended in space instantly convey us to a cosmic dimension.

Context: EnsadLab, 2018.Project created in collaboration with Grégoire RomanetPoster sessions at conferences or similar occasionsgive young scientists the opportunity to present their research to a wider audience. These presentations conform to certain rules, generally being of standard poster format (A0) with text in simple lettering. They are hung on mesh screens that provide temporary exhibition space in a large hall or multi-purpose room.
Together with Grégoire Romanet, we were invited by Samuel Bianchini and Francesca Cozzolino (EnsadLab) to come up with a new way, combining furniture with graphics, of displaying posters. We started by holding discussions with a team made up of researchers from different fields, accustomed to this kind of procedure.
Our solution was to make a poster tree, a collapsible stand on which fabric posters – varying in graphic design and format according to what is being presented – can be displayed. The posters can also be used as scarves or clothes for the scientists during their presentations. It is work in progress.
We were able to try out this device in February 2018 at an experimental poster session linked to an event bringing together artists and scientists entitled Nous ne sommes pas le nombre que nous croyons être. The young graphic artists Quentin Juhel and Dimitri Charrel took part in the project and the design of some of the posters presented at this event.

Context: Éditions du livre, 2017Printed by: Art & CaractèreDescription: 20×21 cm, 32 pagesNot quite the same, but not entirely different… This second edition of the book Dans la lune offers the opportunity to “shift the spectrum”. The range of colours (inks, end papers, hot foil…) is new, the order of the moons has been changed around and… a new moon makes its appearance!

Context: Lézard Graphique, 2018Description: 15×15×50 cmSomething truly special was required to mark the retirement in 2018 of Jean-Yves Grandidier, founder of Lézard Graphique. The solution was a box of surprises illustrating the remarkable typographical work produced by this studio.
Nestling in shredded posters from the studio and tissue paper printed with good wishes in shiny silver letters are 12 little surprises (printed in 12 different colours) designed by graphic artists with a long association with Lézard.
Created in conjunction with Richard Niessen, Formes Vives, Mathias Schweizer, Anette Lenz, ter Bekke & Behage, Henning Wagenbreth, Gavillet & Cie, Helmo, Pierre di Sciullo, Vincent Perrottet, Grégoire Romanet & Betty Bone.

Context: Frac Aquitaine, 2015-2018Printed by: Laplante et Lézard graphiqueDescription: Graphic identityThe graphic identity created for Frac Aquitaine is based around a single strong shape or emblem. Resembling an A standing on its own inverted reflection, it also has elements of a compass or a banner. It focusses, centers, points…
It plays a part in the graphic structure of every document on which it appears (dividing columns, marking the gutter folds, spacing the text, superimposing itself…).
Color is all-important in the graphic design, using only spot colors. The flowing colors are merged with the document’s images and text, giving the tools of communication a global coherence. Each item is designed to be functional. The brochure separates text from image with a fold running midway down the page – making it easier to put in your pocket as well. The logo on successive publications appears in a variety of different colors making it possible to distinguish them one from the other (and collect them!).
On the posters, the logo is centered, giving it a hieratic appearance that enables it to be instantly recognized in urban spaces. Text and images are added in a tightly controlled format. The changing gradations in the colors in the course of a print run give a feeling of fluidity to the whole.
The different items provide opportunities to explore new graphic solutions and new colors, reflecting the rich “polyphony” of Frac Aquitaine!

Context: Cipac, 2011-2018
Printed by: Art & Caractère; Lézard Graphique
Description: Brochures, bags, business cards, etc.
The Cipac is an association which brings together professionals of contemporary art and organizes professional training courses, among other activities. Elementary forms with bright colors complement each other and mutate. The folds and playful layout bring surprises and compose a dynamic union. The shapes and sizes have been “augmented”, echoing the idea of continuing (further) education.

Context:
Fondation Facim, 2016-2017
Printed by:
Laplante
Description:
Graphic identity, various formatsBased in Chambéry, Facim (Fondation pour l’action culturelle internationale en montagne) is a public interest foundation promoting the heritage and culture of Savoy, organising tourist, study and cultural events (visits, festivals, residencies, publications, etc). The Foundation produces a wide variety of documents (brochures for tourists, cultural and corporate communications, etc) aimed at specific sectors of the public. The aim of this graphic identity is to give a kind of coherence to this diversity. My approach to the design was essentially pragmatic since each document is, first and foremost, a practical tool. The arrangement of the indexes, maps and photographs is dictated by the way in which the document is to be used.
The unifying theme of the work as a whole is photography. The simple images, reflecting the Foundation’s cultural mission, present landscape in a way that is very different from the standard tourist brochure.

Context:
Centre Pompidou, 4 February 2017
Printed by:
Laplante
Description:
16 cm in diameterInvited to contribute to the weekend celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Centre Pompidou, I suggested a shower of graphic confetti. The designs of each of the different series refer to one of the graphic features of the centre: Jean Widmer’s black and white logo, the primary colours of the building’s pipes, and lastly the centre’s original typography, consisting here of the number 40 printed in gold. At a certain point during the celebrations, the giant confetti was shot out of cannons, the visitors picking up pieces from the ground to keep as a small (printed) souvenir of this joyful occasion!

Context:
Centre Pompidou-Metz, 2017
Printed by:
Druck
Description:
28×22.5 cm, 256 pages
Typographie:
Brill (brill.com) and Coline (Émilie Rigaud)The use of a landscape format for the catalogue chimes with the theme of the exhibition: gardens as seen by modern and contemporary artists as areas for experimentation.
The dust jacket of the book shows an old photograph of the garden at Giverny reproduced in a ghostly green, “greener than green”. The title appears through holes cut in the dust jacket, the cut-outs being preserved and placed between the pages of the book as in a flower press. The plain background colours (luminous, earthy, vegetable) applied to the offset paper act as a screen for the texts and images. They indicate the different parts of the book and, in particular, point to the essays that punctuate the book.

Context:
Éditions Dilecta/ Musée des Beaux-Arts de Chambéry, 2016
Printed by:
Graphius – Geers Offset
Description:
16.5×22cm, 192 pagesThis book presents the work of François Morellet, setting it within an array of art works by his friends taken from Morellet’s own collection.
The book, with its transparent envelope and 16 stickers, makes iconoclastic reference to the popular Panini sticker albums. The works of art are printed in colour on the shiny side of the stickers. Photographs of François Morellet and his artist friends appear on the reverse side, as if in intimate counterpoint to the works presented. These detached images are slipped in between François Morellet (printed on the cover) and his friends (printed on the transparent pocket).
Inside the book, coloured rectangles (with captions) show where the stickers should be placed. The font used throughout the book is Herb Lubalin’s Avant-Garde designed in 1970. The page numbers appear now in this corner, now in that, in a variety of different combinations.
A ghostly arrangement of piled up images appears (in black) on the back cover.
Logic, chance, system, playfulness, humour… a printed and graphic homage to the mischievous nature of the artist!
The exhibition poster consists of overlapping (picto)graphic images taken from works by François Morellet and his “artist friends” Sol LeWitt, Josef Albers and Max Bill. This tangled composition emphasises the geometric and coloured connections between the various works… as if these square shapes were carrying on a friendly conversation!

Context:
Fage édition / Musée d’art moderne et contemporain de Saint-Étienne Métropole, 2017
Printed by:
Graphius – Geers Offset
Description:
13×20cm, 80 pagesThis book appeared on the occasion of a solo exhibition devoted to works by the young artist Jérémy Demester. Describing himself as a gypsy painter, he works in a wide variety of mediums, often in collaboration with others in a wide circle of friends he calls La Demestria.
Begun when he was still a teenager, the series of engravings presented in this book is reproduced in a blue identical with that of the original proofs. The surrounding page surface, slightly greenish in colour, creates an effect of luminous contrast, the images seeming to float in it. The materials, colours and eclectic typographical registers used in the book suggest now alchemy, now something more down-to-earth, reflecting aspects of the artist himself.

Context: Musée des Arts Décoratifs et du Design, Bordeaux&nbsp;/ CNAP 2016
The subject of this exhibition was objects of everyday domestic life from the collection in the Centre national des arts plastiques (CNAP).I sought to turn to advantage the various constraints imposed by the project (the variety of different supports and formats, the need to use four-colour process printing, the amount of content…) in order to assert and enhance its visual identity.
Regardless of the type of support, the designs feature a schematic house. While always keeping the same proportions, this could be adjusted according to the format required (augmented, repeated, with bleed printing, etc).
The layout of the content varied depending on the type of support: the text appeared in different parts of the house creating a variety of compositions which, in conjunction with the many different colour combinations, enhanced the exhibition’s graphic identity.
When superimposed next to a photograph, the house adapts itself to it like a chameleon.

Exposition Pangramme et Papillons (Pangram and Butterflies)
Ecole Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Nîmes, 2016
Papillons designed in collaboration with Pernelle PoyetThis exhibition presented the Pangram project together with several series of posters and books featuring Papillons imprimeurs. The initials of the title are also those of Pernelle Poyet, with whom we collaborated in the design of the exhibition. In a playful nod to the genesis of the Papillons project (and the parallels between collecting posters and collecting butterflies), the idea was to display the works in an almost entomological way, the presentation including exaggerated versions of the entomologist’s tools such as pins, display boxes and a dissection table where the books could be examined.

Context:
Centre Pompidou-Metz, 2017
Printed by:
Lézard Graphique
Description:
14×22cmThis New Year’s greetings card, consisting of a folder containing a sheet of stickers of brightly coloured petals, was designed to allow the recipients to create their own landscapes.

Context:
Réunion des Musées Nationaux / Musée Cantini – Marseille, 2016
Printed by: Ingoprint
Description: 22×28cm, 192 pagesProduced for the exhibition of the same title mounted in Marseille, this catalogue contains essays and images of works of modern and contemporary art arranged thematically (night, ghosts, nightmares, awakenings…). One section of the book presents the Jeu de Marseille, the set of tarot cards designed by the Surrealists. Some of these esoteric figures reappear in the form of pictogrammes to indicate the different parts of the catalogue.
Enigmatic lips depicted by Man Ray and Raoul Hausmann appear on the dust jacket. The filmy texture of the paper allows the works printed on the reverse side to show through, coming to the surface like distant memories. Concealed beneath the dust jacket, the ivory of the “Soft Touch” fabric – stamped with gold lettering – used for the cover evokes the intimacy of flesh.

(The Butterfly Printer) Context: Éditions du livre, 2016 Printers: Lézard graphique Art & Caractère Description: 20 × 30 cm
This book is intended as a published continuation of Papillons, the series of posters inspired by moths and butterflies produced for the exhibition Un Imprimeur in Le Havre.
Printed using a variety of different techniques (silk screen, offset, hot gilding), the detachable pages can be freely arranged like a color chart to create new combinations of colored wings. Variations occurring in the printing process make each book unique.
The book can be stood on end, the central fold separating the day (butterflies) section from the phosphorescent night (moths) section.
The book’s title is used to represent the insects’ antennae and appears on every page like a mantra, the repetition and symmetry underlining the fluidity of the printing.
The book is dedicated to my mother Manu who taught me to love beautiful printing and who regularly sends me (real) butterflies!

Context:
This reprint was the work of Emmanuelle & Fanette Mellier with the collaboration of Catherine Champahnet, Annette & Marie Colliot-Thélène, Christine Poncet and Catherine Flament.
The text is identical to that of the original edition, published in Dijon by Guy Chambelland on 5December1960. 23April 2016
Printed by:
Art & Caractère, Lavaur
Description:
10×16cmThis work, particularly dear to my heart, is a reissue of a collection of poems written in 1960 by my grandfather Henri Poncet.
Although known as a successful publisher, setting up éditions Comp’Act and later ActMêm, he was less well known as a poet (indeed, he himself did his best to throw people off the scent!).
This wonderful poetry lurked on the page in shredded strips, passed around like secret messages.
It was necessary and urgent to republish the text of l’oiseleur in color. The little book with its gilded top edge seems to thank us: it opens itself. I am determined to believe that this is not only because of the weight of the paper!

Context: Becquemin & Sagot, Analogues, 2016Printed by: Escourbiac, ParisDescription: 19×26cmThe catalogue presents recent projects realized by the artist duo La Cellule (Becquemin&Sagot). A leaflet (of the fan-fold type used for postcards) is tucked around the fluorescent cover encrusted with blue hairs. Appearing on the different faces of the leaflet are photographs of their Road Movie Pop Corn in which the artists take a trip on a concrete-mixer-cum-tandem-bicycle. The book’s graphic design and its glossy ivory-colored pages mirrors the duo’s highly original artistic stance – a mixture of seductiveness and bare-faced cheek!

Context:Fotokino, 2015Printed by:Art & CaractèreDescription:8pages, 15×36cm This paper “stained-glass” window was designed in the context of the exhibition organized by Fotokino at Château Borély, Musée des arts décoratifs in Marseille, entitled Play, design pour les martiens. Each sheet, its format adaptable to the shape of the windows, is printed with simple geometric forms that reveal themselves to be the letters P L A Y. The transparency of the thin paper, offset printed on both sides, results in interesting light and color effects, while the hot foil printing both blocks out the light and adds reflections. By progressively restricting the flow of the ink fountains during setup, a multiplicity of recto/verso combinations, visible when viewed against the light, was obtained. The remaining exemplars have been folded in order to make them into books.

Context: Gaîté Lyrique, 2016Printed by: Agpograf, Barcelone
Description: 15×24cmThis book, with its medium format and soft cover, is intended both to be looked at and read. It was designed to be a critical continuation of the Extra Fantômes exhibition. The repetition and then subtraction of the graphic elements of the titles, in the style of a code, evoke the tension between the material and immaterial nature of digital data. The thinness of the inner pages allows the architecture of the book to show through while the band running down the cover reveals the stigmata of some strange recycled material.

Context:
Frac Aquitaine/ éditions Confluences, 2015
Printed by:
Art & Caractère
Description:
17×23.5cmPublished on the occasion of an exhibition at Frac Aquitaine, this book presents the work of contemporary African artists whose work is influenced by the popular cultures of Sub-Saharan Africa.
The contrast between the plastic of the dust jacket and the canvas of the cover is a reference to the cross-fertilization between tradition and modernity. Motifs inspired by traditional weaving are used on the jacket that covers and protects the book. They are arranged in such a way as to allow the gold lettering on the canvas cover, applied by hot foil technique, to emerge between the patterns.
This idea of rhythm and weaving lies behind the composition and layout of the book’s pages, and it is apparent also in the physical fabric of the book with its multi-colored sections alternating texts and images, its stiched headband of black and white threads…

Context:
Confort Moderne, Poitiers
Printed by:
Lézard Graphique
Description:120×176cmPart poster and part graphic wallpaper, this television test card was designed on the occasion of The Averty Show, an exhibition held at the Confort Moderne in Poitiers. Television sequences created by Jean-Christophe Averty were projected in spaces designed Olivier Vadrot. Related works of contemporary art were exhibited at the same time.
These test cards, in colors that do not relate to technical standards (quite the opposite!), were silk screen printed, the colors being chosen at random.
They seek to reflect Averty’s work with its joyful exploration of the possibilities of television.

Context:Flammarion, 2015Printed by:Grafos, BarcelonaDescription:23.5×25cmThis book presents the work of Henri Michaux and Zao Wou-Ki in the light of their thirty-year-long friendship. It explores the mutual echoes and visual and literary links permeating their creations. The cover shows the names and signatures of the artists intertwined with a restrained delicacy. The landscape format makes it possible to set the essay by Bernard Vouilloux alongside reproductions of the artists’ works. The gray background highlights the white spaces allotted to the text and to the images, reinforcing the impression of a book within a book. This mise-en-abîme effect is reinforced by the reproduction of many facsimiles showing the authors’ handwritten annotations.

Publisher:Éditions du livre, 2015Printed by:Art & CaractèreDescription:
20× 21 cm
Au Soleil was dreamed up (literally) as a published twin of the book Dans la lune. Some characteristics of the books are identical (format, printing technique …). Others are different and emphasise the uniqueness of each book: number of pages, binding, paper, arrangement of forms and subjects… The simple illustration of the cycle of daylight hours in the book serves (as does the cycle in the moon book) as a pretext for a chromatic exploration within the confines of the book. The colour is diffused through a series of haloes between the sun and the sky that run into one another in an almost immaterial way. The subtle and vibrant light emanating from it tells us a story, that of a book “in itself”.

A book by FibreTigre – publisher ÉditionsFranciscopolis, 2015Printed by:Art & CaractèreTypography of the code designed with MarineBenzDescription:11× 18 cm, 104 pagesIn this book written by FibreTigre you are the hero; you take on the character of an archaeologist from the future investigating the disappearance of a civilisation.
It is the last of a trilogy begun in 2012 at the Villa Medici in the French Academy in Rome. It follows on from Astronomicon and Dans la lune in an exploration of the space of a book in the same way as the space of the cosmos. Here I was interested in experimenting with the very strict layout rules required for a LDVELH (Livre Dont Vous Êtes Le Héros – Book in which you are the hero). The book itself, its format based on the famous series published by Gallimard, has a text in black with numbers in violet. The paragraphs follow on from one another, the page layout being very simple. Each page has a die (“thrown” at random onto the text or into the margin) which can be used as a tool to move forward in the game, choosing any double page. Dots of the same size are used to fill up the empty spaces at the bottom of the pages (LDVELHs abhor a vacuum!). The typeface in code and the mysterious diagrams that punctuate the book are also based on the same diameter as the dots. Echoing the dot motif, all the dice faces featured in the book appear in relief on the inside front and back covers made of unbleached cardboard. The book is encased in a 12-page jacket entitled “Encyclopaedia of the Stars” with a map and a scientific explanation of the rules of the game. This jacket is arranged as a “book around the book”, as an extension. Printed in white ink on blue-black paper, it has a layout exactly matching that of the book, the only difference being that here the dots represent constellations in the margins or else fill the empty spaces vertically (and not horizontally).
The cards that go with the book, numbered like giant cosmic dice, accompany us (in six stages) in the game.

Publisher:Cnap, Canopé, 2015Printed by:Art & CaractèreTypography designed with Julia JoffreColouring of the images :
Claire MoreuxDescription :21×29.7, 48 pages59.4× 84 cmThis teaching kit, produced by the Centre national des arts plastiques and published by the Réseau Canopé, is designed to introduce graphic design to schoolchildren. It was created in collaboration with a working group of professionals from the fields of education and graphic design. I was involved from the beginning and designed it.
It includes historical, scientific and technical resources as well as multi-disciplinary teaching hints to help teachers raise the students’ awareness of the importance of graphic design in our daily lives.
The kit consists of two parts. One, a teacher’s booklet, contains texts and documentary resources on the following subjects: Typography, Colour, Data visualisation, Images and Layout. The other consists of five posters presenting these themes, intended for display in the classroom.
The whole thing is contained in a transparent cover that allows the colour arrangement of these different objects to show through, giving the kit its own “image”.
The pages of the booklet are printed with the famous Seyes ruled lines (French ruling) that have guided the handwriting of schoolchildren for decades in the manner of a “layout grid”. This grid becomes a multi-coloured graphic playground without influencing the layout of the text which ignores the lines. The different parts of the booklet each have their own colour, making them instantly recognisable. The images are printed in six spot colours.
The typeface for the headings, designed specifically for this project, is a free adaptation of the original design by Paul Renner for Futura. The letters are composed by combining forms (the pieces of a kit!) that can be taken apart and reassembled.
The five posters (the coloured backs of which correspond to the themes in the booklet so that they can be told apart when folded) have the appearance of educational illustrations.
The arrangement of the visuals displays the richness of each theme and hints at their complexities. The deceptively simple and archetypical character of the graphic elements and the absence of captions (which do, however, appear in the booklet) are an invitation to discussion with the pupils.
Not only the colours but also the types of paper differ from poster to poster, giving a glimpse of the subtleties available to graphic design.

Produced by ClémentVauchez (Helmo) and Jean-YvesGrandidier (Lézardgraphique), 2015
Printed by:
Lézard graphique
Description:120 × 176 cm
This limited-edition poster is a Papillon (butterfly or moth) whose wings create an experimental screen printing colour chart. It is a nocturnal version of the PapillonImprimeur created in 2013 for Une Saison Graphique. This (nocturnal) butterfly is a more subtle and muted. It is overprinted with a photoluminescent varnish that makes it visible in the dark…

Ensuite j’ai rêvé de papayes et de bananes, book by Laure Limongi– Éditions Le Monte-en-l’air, 2015Printed by:Art & CaractèreDescription:10.5× 21cm, 24 pagesIn this text written by Laure Limongi, humans coexist with intelligent androids. One of these, Silvio, through contact with a woman who seems to be a double of the writer, decides to memorise the existing data on extinct languages, to save those languages on the road to extinction and also to create a language… As if to echo this story, this book is not bound. It takes substance, nevertheless, from the magic of its folds, folded and unfolded, and can be opened up in space. It invites us to a different kind of reading, resistance reading. In loudly proclaiming its iconoclastic materiality, it gives echo to languages that are disappearing. The six flaps of the covering jacket prompt a game of composition / decomposition with the mysterious title of the book. The body of the book (the inner pages) is a concertina-like horizontal leaflet, the text laid out on a zigzag pagination. A list of recently extinct languages is given as an appendix. Arranged on a vertical concertina leaflet the list can be viewed as a continuous loop… The whole book can be flattened out and then reconstructed, like a potential space.

Book by Marie Canet–ÉditionsDilecta, 2015Description:12.5× 20cm, 128 pagesThis book about the artist Bruno Pélassy who died of AIDS in 2002 is based on a text by Marie Canet that examines the links between his work and his illness.
In format and layout, the softback book has been designed to be read. The flesh-coloured leatherette cover (laminated onto red paper) bears the name of the artist, the letters hot gilded and surrounded by small flames. The series of images that open the book reveal over 16 pages the astonishing delicacy of Bruno Pélassy’s work. The text follows, arranged on the page like a novel (but printed in colour). Printed on each right-hand page is a detail from stills of the film Sans titre, sang titre, cent titres, a work representing the artist’s manifesto but destined to disappear because the video tape becomes ever more fragile at each showing. This work runs through the book like a flip book, fixing into the material of the book the idea of temporality that consumes the artist’s work.

Context:
Une Saison graphique, Le Havre, 2014
Exhibition display:
Olivier Vadrot with Dimitri Mallet
Text:
Vincent Vauchez
This exhibition has been designed as a veritable workshop on typographical composition (typesetting). An enormous oak chest is used to display and store the letters and magnetic composing sticks that allow one to compose words. A type case, printed 120 × 176, in black and white glitter ink, serves as the exhibition’s poster.
Each letter of the anti-Unicode alphabet was printed in runs of 1000 copies, each by a different printer or contributing collaborator (Art et Caractère, Lézard graphique, Fotokino, etc.).
The techniques and production sites vary. For some letters, printing 1,000 copies was more of a challenge (the letter “ H”, printed in aquatint at Le Havre School of Art); while other letters follow more mainstream techniques, as those of online providers (eg, the letter “G” materialized as a standard A5 leaflet). Printed on the front or back, multi-page, folded or not, each letter exists as a unique graphic object, whether familiar or not. The work was naturally delimited by the economic constraints of the project, regarding format and print mode. The constant margin of 13 mm is a rather extravagant common denominator! The vibrating effect on the letter “E” is created by a lenticular printing process, and the letter “M”s redundant downstrokes fluctuate with the varying results of a decaying machine…
The profusion of so many different types of media multiplied the complexity of this endeavor tenfold, in terms of technical logistics and economic management. The effort necessary for the creation of a new graphic object was, basically, multiplied 26 times!
This aspect also represents the experimental dimension of the project.
A Pangram, written by Vincent Vauchez, was displayed in the window of the gallery:
While new zephyrs foraged gardens and countryside, she, yéyé beatnik, danced her dark twist.
Through this exhibition, my idea is to reverse the scale of words (which are usually contained by the printed object): here is the word that contains the objects. A potential grammar of sorts, questioning the notion of printed documents, poetically, existentially and playfully.

Context: Une saison graphique, Le Havre, 2013Printed by: Lézard GraphiqueDescription: 120 × 176 cm
The choice of a butterfly to symbolize the exhibition Un Imprimeur (“A Printer” in English) is not only in relation to the spring season during which the Saison Graphique begins. I also wanted to suggest a parallel between a collection of butterflies and a collection of posters: they both find themselves pinned-up vertically, are preciously preserved, are two-dimensional, etc.
The resulting posters printed by Lézard Graphique, are, like a real butterflies wings, simply marvelous to look at. The colors and reflections arouse a similar sense of enchantment. The graceful movement of the symmetrical wings acts as a reflection of one another. Poetically, they invoke the idea of an exchange between printing and printed form… So, text and informative elements become image, following this logic. As often in my work, the printing process guides the graphic design. For that reason, two sets of posters were printed. In the silent series (without text), the butterfly’s wings served as a graphic testing ground, much like an unconventional color chart. They served as a sensitive and pedagogic introduction to the world of Lézard Graphique. The series of standard posters (with logotypes and text) played their role as a communication tool, within the city and far beyond.

Produced by:
Les Arts DécoratifsPrinted by:StipaDescription:11.5 × 19.5cm / 10 × 6 cmThis greetings card, made to look like a fairground token, invites us to enter joyously into a new year.
The care with which it is made and its character as an object that is both popular and elegant represent a cheeky nod to the tradition of Decorative Arts.
Its plasticity (literally!) encourages us to keep it, like a metaphorical object.
The design of the numbers is a contemporary homage to the types of applied arts collected by the museum (mosaic, marquetry, woven fabrics…).

Description: 120 × 176 cm
I decorated the metal fence surrounding the construction site for the International Centre of Graphic Design in Chaumont, with tarot-like faces of playing cards. Printed on the backside of blue poster paper, they’re covered with patterns, each inspired by one of 6 logos representing the sponsors – or contributors – to the site. A nod to the common use of this format, for advertising exposure. They are glued irregularly and overlap here and there, like a loose deck of cards, playing with the corrugated relief of the fence. In reply, certain billboards in the city display the front of the playing cards. Printed on the front side of the poster paper, their pattern is displayed randomly, like a virus. Hearts all over the town!

Context:
Exhibition ‘Recto Verso’, 8 graphic works at the Musée des Arts décoratifs, 2014.Exhibition display designed in collaboration with Grégoire Romanet.
Echoing the context of Decorative Arts, I chose to present my work as museum objects: preciously protected behind glass. By inserting graphic design in this context, I wanted to invite an often uninitiated public to experience a reinterpretation of the work and, in their own way, press “replay” on previous expectations. The set design is the result of a collaboration with Grégoire Romanet, whose design of thewindows was based on a commonplace object, familiar to most… It represents conventional work as well as projects in more free and experimental contexts. The idea was to show the movement between colors and scales, the repetition and variety of different questions concealed in the box-shaped universe that is… Pinball!

Context:
Télérama Magazine Special Edition, 2014
Description:
230 × 300 cm, 98 pages
This special edition takes us into the depths of this exceptional artist and her work.
They rise to the challenge of presenting the joyful audacity of work without resorting to redundancy or competitive comparisons. What a colorful endeavor!

Context:
Gaîté Lyrique, 2014
Printed by:
Les Deux Ponts
Description:
16 × 23 cm, 48 pages
The cutaway views and transitions between color scales create instant immersion in the world of Fräneck’s illustrations and Ramona Badescu’s writing. The fold-out flaps allow the reader to play with (dis)continuity of the landscape… and the strange characters running around in the margins. There’s no need for page numbers: in this book, color is the the main reference!

Context:
Danspace Project Platform, 2014
Printed by:
Arts & Caractère
Description:
18 × 25 cm, 96 pages
The Franco-American choreographer DD Dorvillier presents work from her personal archive of images and texts written to or commisoned by friends and colleagues. Photographs, drawings, poems, interviews and analyses mingle freely, providing the reader with a deeper understanding of her approach. I envisioned the graphic design of the book as proposing a sort of “spatial scenography” of the images and texts. The covers are divided into 3 colors, in the order of cyan, magenta and faded yellow. DD, a printer’s daughter, has often used this color reference in her work. The title is hot foiled with a holographic pattern. The cover works with a system of non-symmetrical flaps (like arm movements). A sheet of stickers, printed separately, allows one to compose instinctively with images, for a more personal arrangement. The inside of the book is printed in black, on hammered paper. The double column provides an ample amount of space available to arrange the words freely: whether fluid or audacious, reading is a dance!

Context: Imprimerie Nationale, 2013Poem: James NoëlPhotography: Émilie LamyPublished and printed by: Atelier du livre et de l’estampe Description: 23 × 32 cm, 48 pages
This book presents a selection of non-Latin characters from the Imprimerie Nationale, taking us on a voyage around the world of typography. It is also a journey into the graphic side of characters.
On the cover is a sign that means “beginning of the book” in Siamese, engraved exclusively for this edition. The first part consists of photographs taken during the printing of the book, providing a deeper look into the manufacturing process.
On the inside pages, twenty “Eastern” scriptures are presented in original format, taken from older books printed by the Imprimerie Nationale.
The last book, printed on recycled paper (used to absorb waste ink from lithographic stones), reveals poems written by James Noël, as well as notes on the characters. The papers used are disparate vestiges of (often precious and sometimes older) bibliophile works. This recycling process produces unique combinations for each piece. These papers were overprinted with a blue hue, and the printing press, with its irregular tint block, brings out the roughness.
The blue color strays from the typically warm colors one associates with bibliophile books. The random speckled pattern on the outer band (in reference to Annonay paper) was done in aquatint, printed on the back of ancient marbled paper, also covered with blue ink.
The film for the hot foil stamping were made by hand and combined to produce a variety of unique reflections.

Context:
Jacky au Royaume des Filles, a film by Riad Sattouf, 2014
What a singular request! Riad Sattouf asked me to create an original typeface for his film “Jacky au Royaume des Filles” (which was intended for use in the decorations and title sequence), as well as elements of the graphic identity of “Bubunne”, the kingdom in which the story takes place: emblems, flags, etc. The letters are inspired by some non-Latin scripts (Greek, Russian …), without taking reference of one specific style in particular. As Bubunne is not based on one particular country. The idea was to infuse a certain strangeness in some letters, so that the words appear “unfamiliar” (while remaining readable). The spider webs and the women’s braided hairstyles also served as inspiration. The typography’s rounded endings account for a return to a lighter, more humorous feel. I also designed the main symbols representing the kingdom of Bubunne, (the emblem of the crossed horse heads and the flags) which was then used elsewhere in the film.

Context:
Friche de la Belle de Mai / Marseille Provence 2013-2014Printed by:
Lézard Graphique / CCI Description:
120 × 176 cmCartel is made up of different associations (located in Marseille) active in the field of contemporary art. Each member has a unique approach and has its own visual identity.
The simplicity of the graphic system reflects this composite identity. All communication is based on an original script, the consonants are used commonly, by all members of the Cartel. Vowels are, however, specific to each of the six associations, which has its own version of the alphabet.
The unconventional design of these vowels, more graphic than typographical, only decipherable in the flux of the text. The overall sense of diversity is echoed further, by the multiplicity of colors, types of paper and varied formats and media.

Context:
Centre d’art Albert Chanot, 2014
Printed by:
Nory
The structure of the Albert Chanot Art center building is the basis of the graphic conception. The house’s characteristic form (which is also used in the logo) was synthetically redesigned to provide a unifying symbol for all communication materials: brochures, calendars invitations, posters. In the booklet-calendar, the sign is built and then deconstructed. Inside the front cover, flaps unfold to reveal a calendar, and inside the booklet, the program is presented blue on blue.

Context:
Les Presses du réel, 2014
Printed by:
Ex Fabrica
Description:
16,5 × 26 cm, 162 pages
The first monographic catalog from Clement Cogitore, artist and filmmaker, who presents his work in the manner of a simple visit to his studio. Each project is presented alongside images that have served as references, mirroring the resulting work (as a “mis en abyme” of sorts). Taken from the history of art, film or mainstream culture, they guide us and provide a sensitive and semiotic vision of the artist’s approach. The double gray cover (a refinement of canvas paper and raw cardboard) underscores a particular desire to present the inner workings and ramifications of his work.

Context:
La Fabrique de Fotokino, 2013
Printed by:
Lézard Graphique, Nory
This workshop was designed to invite visitors to participate in a colorful game of luck. Scratch cards, revealing various colorful shapes, allowed participants the chance to win “bank notes” that they could then finish by coloring them. Once colored, they could be put back into use, as the value increased, once in circulation. Visitors could buy scratch off tickets other to win the “Jackpot” (the meaning of the word “Pactole” in French): a big RISO-printed check, hand-finished by yours truly!

Context: Cipac, 2013Printed by: Lézard Graphique, NoryDescription: poster, brochure, postcards, etc.
The graphic identity of Cipac Congress is based on the American Typewriter typeface, whose familiar letter design is, of course, inspired by the classic writing machines.
Each letter is cut (horizontally, vertically or diagonally), opening up further possibilities, such as the use of typographical polychrome. Across the different uses and media, the colors and dynamics of the lettering vary and intertwine, echoing the diversity of the viewpoints presented by those invited to speak at the Congress.

Context:
Villa Medici, 2013
Printed by:
Art & Caractère
Description:
120 × 176 cm, 6 models
In line with the Modular project, which took place in April 2012 for Micro Onde art center in Velizy, I proposed an installation which sought to make use of the paper’s transparent qualities, as well as color and light. Cosmic landscapes were offset printed on translucent paper, front or front and back, at times using mixtures of colors in the ink to obtain random gradients. Overlays of these posters on a light table make it possible to compose landscapes. The fragility of the paper and the delimitation of formats contrasts with the immateriality and depth of the Cosmos as shown here.

Context:
ESA Cambrai / B42, 2013
Printed by:
Art & caractères
Description:
12 × 18 cm, 64 pages
The text Les Astrologiques ou la science sacré du ciel (“Astrological or the Sacred Science of the Heavens”), a long poem in five books on astrology and astronomy, was written by Marcus Manilius, a poet and astrologer of ancient Rome, of Syrian origin. In light of modern science, the words of Marcus Manilius may seem fanciful, but a universal allegorical dimension emerges from his singular interpretations of physical and meteorological phenomena. Book I of Astronomicon is based on the first printed edition of the text, prepared by Joseph Justus Scaliger, a passionate astronomy scholar. This Latin edition is preserved in a few sparse libraries in Europe. A facsimile in the same scale as the original version, this edition is immersed in a mysterious night mood, echoing the oblivion into which the text has fallen. The French translation of the text, dating from the eighteenth century, is located on the backside of the pages, facing the Japanese version: the reader is free to leave the book in its original “night mood”, or to access the translation by tearing the pages apart. The same logic was applied to the front of the book, which is covered in a blue-black stingray leather, on which small particles of golden dust were hot foiled. The cover displays a photographic image of the starry sky, printed in black on canvas paper, alluding to the stardust visible on the facsimile.

Context:
Villa Medici, 2012
Printed by:
Press rotative
Description:
30 × 37 cm, 16 pages
Decollo is a newspaper: It has the appropriate size, smell and materials. Each double page features a rocket, which stretches horizontally, left to right, split in half by the v-center fold. The newspaper’s pages can then be rearranged and folded indefinitely to create unusual combinations, like a visual cadavre exquis. The rockets are carriers of dreams and visions of the future, like a potential tool. They exist on the edge of abstraction, simply reclining shapes and colors.

Context:
Villa Medici, 2012
Printed by:
Lézard Graphique
Description:
120 × 176 cm, a series of 4 posters
Galileo dedicated the discovery of Jupiter’s four satellites (which he named Cosmica Sidera) to the four Medici brothers, whom he frequented regularly. Their acquaintance eventually protected Galileo from the Inquisition. Lunar soil from these satellites was screen printed on 4 posters, using phosphorescent inks mixed with colored pigments. Chemical experiments on silkscreens generated strange reactions when mix with the lunar soil. The posters, laminated onto wooden panels resembling slices of color. They were then placed around the Loggia del Bosco, leaning against various edges and corners. A good deal of lighting was used to charge the light pigments with energy, bathing the panels in color, causing them to glow, with a luminescent aura. At regular intervals, the panels were plunged into darkness, left to generate their own light. That brief second of luminescence is recorded in the retina, like a cosmic residue of sorts. Also part of the exhibition, Emmanuel van der Meulen exhibited a series of paintings in reference to the Cosmos and the circle as a form, beneath the terrace of Bosco. The installation was a cosmic trip, among the auras of colors, from palpable to ethereal.

Context:
Villa Medici, 2012
Printed by:
Art & caractères
Description:
9 × 15 cm, 32 pages
This book is a collection of poetry, a confined object, echoing the symbol of the walls. It was written by James Christmas, who somehow had an early premonition of the collapse of the walls of the Villa Medicis, which came to happen shortly thereafter. Residue of the fallen wall are on the double cover. The text is quite a snug fit between the fairly hard covers; the book opens on its own, enticing the the reader to venture inside. The French text, coexists with its translation in Italian, with a fissure separating both languages. The Italian text follows the French version, typographically, following the order and logic of the translation process. The original language is the foundation for the other. The cracks are formed by the rhythm of the words. I modified the Century typeface by placing small dots in the center of each letter, creating a visual continuity, like a string of pearls, like words in a poem. The choice of materials was inspired by stone walls, Roman walls in particular: fluorescent inks evoke the signs one encounters at the original sites, as well as graffiti, which often creates stark contrast to the old stones. James Christmas’ text has a singular energy, which calls forth the light, present here in the inks and sky blue lettering embossed on the cover.

Context:
Villa Medici, 2012
Printed by:
Art & Caractère
Description:
16 cm diamètre
Art Direction:
Olivier Vadrot
Music:
Andrew Sharpley
The history of Confetti is quite eventful, both in France and in Italy: although harmless, its use, throughout history, has been severely circumscribed and, at times, banned.
On the occasion of the residents exhibition at the Villa Medici, I created oversized confetti which featured the planets of the solar system. The black side displays a photographic reproduction of the planets in delicate black and white halftone. Layers of color create abstract shapes, inspired by the chromatic atmospheres of the planets. The backside, printed in silver, reflected the light during our evening launch. The scenography, overseen by Olivier Vadrot, was to shoot large white, helium-filled balloons with a rifle, liberating the confetti into the night sky. This printed galaxy, festive and ephemeral, was launched during Andrew Sharpley’s musical performance of compositions made with the sounds of printing machinery.
The traditional codes of popular festivities were revisited, with a sense of movement and diversion, under the theme of print as a field of symbolic exploration. This performance also represented a first presentation of my work in Rome, regarding the Cosmos, as well as an interrogation about the fragility of printed objects.

Context:
Exhibition Ever living ornement, Micro onde Art Centre in Velizy, 2012
Printed by:
Art & Caractère
I invested the glass facade with superimposed posters, randomly placed in windows, as part of an exhibition on the theme of ornament in modern art. This modulation of surfaces plays with light as a stained-glass window could be perceived differently, when seen from the inside or outside the building. Nine color compositions were offset printed on paper normally used for printing medication instructions. Sheer and transparent, the effect was dynamic, both outside and inside the building. Superposing the paper modules allowed for multiple combinations. In this ephemeral installation, I revisited the idea of architectural ornament with means culled from the technical nature of contemporary graphic design, normally used in the context of book design.

Context:
Exhibition Dedanlémo, Fontenay-sous-bois, 2012
Printed by:
Lézard Graphique
Description:
120 × 176 cmProject designed in collaboration with Grégoire Romanet
Dedanlémo is a collective exhibition about reading (body and space), in accordance with a proposal by Pierre di Sciullo. Together with Grégoire Romanet, I developed a system for writing a word as a performance. The proposed matrix is a negative version of the Fontenew project. Here, the matrix functions with the same grid, but in the opposite way. The inks fade into one another, mixtures of cyan, magenta and yellow. They were screen printed and varnished. The typographic grid was then overprinted in black ink, designed to be scratched off. The letters then appeared when the black surfaces were “scratched” with surprising, randomly colorful results. Grégoire Romanet created tables on which the posters were laid out to be scratched. Visitors revealed anagrams. After scratching the letters, tables were stood on end transforming them into display easels. The word “MUÉ” refers to the molting of skin, change, transformation (the scraped ink skin that reveals the letters / the tilting of the tables). The word “ÉMU” its emotional opposite. Turning the tables is a strong gesture, indeed!

Context:Festival des cultures urbaines, Canteleu 2012Printed by:
Lézard GraphiqueDescription:
120 × 176 cm
With Tramatic I revived an older project of mine, Multipli. If the principle of folding posters to reveal the letters is the same, the plasticity of this project was very different. The structure was marked by geometric fields, colored on the front and black on the back. The result is an excessive overload that plays with the reading of shapes and colors, a nod to the big printing screen of mainstream advertising posters.

Context:
Les Trois Ours, 2011-2012
Printed by:
Arts & Caractère
Description:
9 × 12 cm, 6 or 12 pages
The association Les Trois Ours was founded by passionate librarians. They publish art books for children, and promote diverse artists work through exhibitions and workshops. These documents are small in size, suitable for children’s hands and delicate readers. They are designed to stand up on their own, in the image of this ambitious yet modest association. They stand as a volume and defend the values of symbols contained within. The text is set in a typeface inspired by the original design of Futura. But the endings are here rounded, mid-way between avant-garde and childish lettering… Each document is available in two different versions: a typographical version (informative), and a graphic version, titled “Livres paysages”. In the latter version, only certain forms have been preserved in the letters, to form a landscape on the edge of abstraction: constellations, prairies, pebble beaches, soil teeming with earthworms… Each communication document made it possible to edit a small edition, reinforcing the fundamental mission of the association.

Context:
Editions du Centre Pompidou, 2011
Description:
24 × 28 cm, 288 pages
For the graphic design in this catalog, I opted for simplicity, in order to emphasize the confrontation of the works presented within. In terms of color, I intentionally went against the typical ‘blue Matisse’ so omnipresent in his works: it appears here in the headband. Its complementary color, orange, permeates the whole color range. The orange solids, present on the pages of text, punctuate the presentation of the works in pairs, and enrobes them in a subtle yet vivid setting.

Context:
Cipac, 2011
Printed by:
Nory
Description:
21 cm × 29,7 cm
Together with Lawyer Agnes Tricoire, the Cipac created models of contracts designed for use by professional artists in the field of contemporary art. As these contracts are printed on request, it was necessary to design a media that could be printed again and again. Graphic codes contracts (boxes, blanks, dotted lines…) were playfully re-distributed within the space of the page. These signs, printed in ink mixed with a transparent base, does not compete with the overprinted text, while providing, nonetheless, a creative counterpoint to the formal rigor of the contract.

Context:
Editions Analogues, 2011
Printed by:
Lézard Graphique (cover)
Description:
15,5 × 24 cm, 176 pages
Nicolas Boulard, a singular and multifaceted artist, became known, in particular, for his artistic work with wine, himself from a family steeped in the tradition of winemaker. We worked in close collaboration on the design of his first monographic catalog. I wanted the graphic design to provide a subtle connection to the world of wine, which permeates his work. The jacket displays an essential piece: an intriguing mobile vine garden capable of traveling to different places, to optimize exposure. Screen-printed with a mixture of inks selected together with the artist, which varied as the print run progressed, each copy is unique. The book cover has a glossy back that takes its intensity from the dark color of the wine. The blue slice is a reference to the “Bordeaux mixture” sprayed to treat the vines, a bibliophile parallel. The first part of the book was printed on cream-colored, hammered paper, usually used for wine labels. In these works, there’s a path to follow, from a glass black monochrome to a white sugar monochrome. The page numbers occupy an atypical space, printed over the text and images. At times annoying, sometimes camouflaged, it disturbs the reader much like a nettlesome fly, once more reflecting this truly provocative artist!

Context:
Le Pavillon Blanc / Les Requins Marteaux, 2011
Printed by:
Art & Caractère
Description:
16 × 24 cm, 48 pages
Gilles Barbier’s approach is very much impregnated by comic books and its problematics. L’Emmentaliste presents his work in a very particular way; half way between an art book and a comic book, which he appropriates its form from. The cover is designed by Winschluss. One of the artist’s collage (organic foam made out of a pile of comic bubbles) facing a non-color version of Winschluss illustration act as cover pages. Within these pages are clamped twenty pages displaying his work arranged as if it was a mute comic book. They are printed with a visible raster, and the frames that surround the boxes are cyan, magenta, yellow and black.
At the center of the book are placed the pages of text written by Jacques Samson, a comic book specialist. Each text page refers to an image page (same pagination). Captions, between which the texts literally flows, are composed in a redesigned typography from the comic Jeff Curtiss. This editorial UFO contains the stigma of comic books, and offers an iconoclastic look at the work of Gilles Barbier.

Context:Mova Architecture, 2011 Printing:Lézard graphique Description:Identité graphique
Mova is an architectural firm that works on various scale projects with simplicity, poetry and respect for the environment. The graphic identity is progessive. The 4 letters of the word Mova recall architectural and landscape basics: houses, factory, sun. I wanted the graphic identity to work like a toolbox that the client could use differently for each media, in order to constantly recompose this mini-landscape, like a game. Pre-cut stickers were printed in order to be added and bring some contrast to any corporate media (manila envelope, card cards…) or on a larger scale on building permits panels.

Context:
Paris Musées, 2011
Impression:
DeckersSnoeck
Description:
21 × 27 cm, 264 pages
This catalog, published for an exhibition at the Cernuschi Museum, features works of Chinese artists who worked in Paris between the 20’s and late 50’s. Works are impregnated with their millennial Far Eastern culture as well as with the Western pictorial experimentation from the interwar period.
Two works are printed on the front and back of the fabric used for the dust cover. The title is printed in black lacquer ink on the ocher cover. On the back of this raw material, full spreads present works that are juxtaposed to the flaps of the dust cover and to pages that also show some paintings. The multiple possibilities of combinations transmits the idea of diversity of influences and pictorial expressions. The different parts of the book are materialized by a variety of colors and paper qualities.
The Vendôme and Antique Olive fonts imply a French typographical modernity (contemporary to the subject). They were used in a simple layout: texte aligned to the left, images on the right part of the page, bringing a dynamic encounter.

Context:
Images en manœuvre éditions, 2011
Printed by:
Art & caractères
Description:
17 × 22 cm, 60 pages
The Parade nuptiale book by John Deneuve presents a selection of drawings that are halfway between childlike crazy graphic design and underground illustrations. Despite its small number of pages, I wanted this book to have a real presence, hence the choice of a thick cardboard for cover, and a bulky paper for the inside. The book presents a drawing per page in a hieratic way, without marking the edges of the original. Printing techniques pay tribute to the liveliness of the colors used by the artist: mate hot foil on a faux white leather for the cover, spot color on pink paper for the cover pages and neon CMYK for the inside pages. This immersion in her work and the color is interrupted by the text printed in black.

Printed by:
Nory
Description:
14 × 21 cmPaysage industriel is an artistic project led by four Regional Natural Parks, in which remains a heritage linked to the industrial past. These parks have engaged collaboration with four artists that have created eight in situ works. The communication material (printed on raw recycled paper in order to highlight the Natural Parks’ ecological commitment) presents the successive stages of this long-term project. The drawings that go with the typogram (the eye, the woven sun, the factory and the compass) echo the architectural, human and social context of this command.

Context:
Éditions Dilecta / Frac Languedoc Roussillon, 2010
Printing:
Snel graphics
Description:
21 × 26 cm, 328 pages
Catalogue of an event bringing together thirty contemporary art exhibitions around the figure of Casanova. The book is composed of monographic chapters on the artists, alternating with some texts written by “Casanova researchers”. Several craft marbled papers were used for the cover and endpapers. The random combinations of these make each book unique. This mix and match creates sometimes harmonious, sometimes dissonant associations, still always amazing! The choice of marbled paper, popular in the eighteenth century, is a bibliophile reference echoing Casanova’s fanciful personality, a devotee of game, fluids and unexpected pleasures. The book is entirely composed in Bodoni, and the simplicity of the layout allows this bountiful content to be organized. The purple (holy color!) emphasizes the acute presence of Casanova (purple ink for the extracts of his Mémoires, purple paper for the insert of unpublished texts, headband, etc.)

Context:
Un comptoir d’édition, 2010
Printing:
Les Deux-Ponts
Description:
12 × 19 cm, 64 pagesRoyans, Vercors, été, is the first book out of a series on the seasons. This first summer volume adresses the aquatic aspects of Royans.
The editor hired a photographer, a cartographer, scientists, writers and inhabitants in order to all rethink the “territory book” with exigency and sensitivity. I wanted to create a more literary and sharp format than the conventional guides. The rusticity of kraft cover contrasts with the delicacy of the poems initiations that are printed on it. A colorful dust jacket hides the poems, and adds the season’s name to the book. The inside pages are all superimposed with a pastel hue, like the veil of light from a season that gently covers text and images.

Context:
Ville de Gentilly, 2010
Printing:
Lézard graphique
Description:
40 × 60 cmCourants d’Arts Festival offers each year a program of shows and activities for young audiences. The image of a windmill was very obvious to me, emphasized by the title of the festival and the relationship to childhood. The bottom of the poster is a sort of inverted, deconstructed mirror: the forms appear “in bulk” as an information channel, and offer themselves as imagination and playful vessel.

Context:
Éditions Marraine Ginette, 2010
Printing:
Nory
Description:
16 × 22 cm, 88 pages, 3 coversMix is a joint project between a visual artist, a writer and a graphic designer. Working with Laurence Lagier’s drawings and photographs related to networks and temporality, Brice Matthieussent wrote a fiction: Lomo reticulens. I worked around all of these elements to design the book, articulating spot colors for this book made with 6 hands. The book is printed on poster paper, the front of which is literally painted in blue, yellow and red. The three-color printing matches the colors of those specific papers and offers the work to the viewer through this strange spectrum. The covers follow each other, gradually revealing the title. Color defines the entire book, in its organization, its ink, its materiality, and offers the content throughout its bright prism.

Context: Centre culturel pour l’enfance de Tinqueux, 2010 Impression: Lézard graphique Description: 120 × 140 cm, 31 tons directs Scénographie: Grégoire RomanetThe exhibition features a screen printed lunar cycle, in which each moon is superimposed to the previous one. Therefore, at the beginning of the cycle, the moon is made out of a single layer of ink. At the end of the cycle, the moon is superimposed to the 30 previous layers. The colorful hazards, opacity tricks, ink sensualities and random streaks dictated the evolution of the cycle. Experimenting with the plasticity of screen printing is at the heart of the project. The theme is halfway between science and pure poetry: its materialization oscillates between technical constraints and experimentation. The set design works around this educational and dreamy aspect thanks to the creation of an original furniture by the designer Grégoire Romanet. The moons embedded in a wooden stand and arranged according to the calendar logic, were displayed horizontally day after day. At the end of the exhibition, they all formed a massive didactic board. The act of wandering in a space is at the heart of this set design.

Context:
Exposition dans l’espace public, Festival Midi Minuit Poésie, Nantes, 2010
Printed by:
Lézard graphique
Description:
120 × 176 cm
Text:
Laure Limongi
Alongside projects like Fontenew and Circus—in which I used Decaux panels as typographical template—I designed the Multipli project in response to Midi Minuit Poetry festival’s invitation. To close this trilogy, I collaborated once more with Laure Limongi, who wrote a short poem that resonates with the typography “And closed it’s open / name the colors / like we capture a sense”. Multipli was created referring too a poster folding principle. The letters appear from the folds and the back of the subtracted shapes make new colors arise.
The color temperatures vary between the front and the back of the poster, which were screen printed. The inks were changed during the printing process. These modifications have allowed letters to materialize themselves through unique combinations. The folding grid is overprinted with a varnis, creating a shimmer-like effect.

Context:
Cipac, 2009-2012
Printed by:
Snel graphics ; Art & Caractère
Description:
10 × 18 cm
This contemporary art calendar has the particularity of being published by several structures, that each have their own identity. Since this calendar is a mutual document, all of the logos swirl around the title (deliberately without any hierarchy) instead of displaying them all in a conventional way; the cover reflects the collective dynamic that gave birth to this calendar.
Certain characteristics of typical calendars are used for this document (hot foil, elongated format, thin paper, maps, etc.), except that they are hijacked and sometimes even overdone, like the map of France with constrained proportions.
The inside pages are printed with spotted colors—which vary for each new calendar—that allow the reader to immediately identify the geographical areas, and produces subtle effects of overprinting. The design proposal is based on these contrasts between respected or diverted codes, and color jubilation!

Context:
Centre culturel pour l’enfance de Tinqueux, 2009
Printed by:
Art & Caractère
Description:
15 × 21 cm, 54 pages
The Centre culturel pour l’enfance of Tinqueux (Childhood Cultural Centre) invited me to do several projects. I was inspired by the name of their magazine which also is the name of their exhibition space: In the Moon.
Therefore, for each project, I decided to work around the current month’s lunar cycle.
The publication’s texts are at the heart of a highly inked lunar cycle! It’s imposed by color classification’s logic. The hidden part is always present, like a ghost of black colors.

Context:
Exposition personnelle, Chaumont Design Graphique, 2009
Set design:
Grégoire Romanet
Music:
Andrew SharpleyL’Encroyable was the restitution of my residence in Chaumont, as well as a convivial space. It started as a “fantasy”: an out of scale and ephemeral poetry on printing. Designed with Grégoire Romanet, L’Encroyable was a 300 m2 white sheet painted on the floor, on which was displayed a special furniture: a chromatic bar, cutting benches, kiosk… The blank space in the center was used as a dance floor. All these printing codes were presented as references to issues worked on during my residency, they are also usual elements for graphic designers. The public’s steps print this blank page at the rhythm of encounters, lectures and other Festival’s events.
Every morning, the kiosk opened its doors to showcase the work I created during the residency. They were all bounded together in large books and connected to the table thanks to giant silk bookmarks. At night, the shutters were closed changing the kiosk into a “volume”, quite literally (this word was also printed on the shutters).
The most epic moment of this installation was the evening during which Andrew Sharpley played an original music composed from printing sounds he had recorded; a poetic way to picture and decontextualized of a prosaic moment of graphic design. The experimental printing of the word “encroyable” filmed by Sacha Léopold, was used as an hypnotic generic.

Context:
Centre culturel pour l’enfance de Tinqueux, 2009
Printing:
Lézard graphique
Description:
120 × 140 cm
The Centre culturel pour l’enfance of Tinqueux invites each year an artist to create a multiple that will be given out to children of the city, so that they build a collection. The phases of the moons / balloons are revealed by occulting the screen printed matte black, which delicate veil lets the colors, materials and frame show through.

Context:
Je ne suis pas à vendre, Les Charmettes, Chambéry, 2009
Printing:
Lézard graphique
Description:
120 × 176 cm
The exhibition presenting Rousseau’s relationship to money was articulated around 4 large format posters with had both side showing, allowing the visitors to rotate around them. I selected a warmer color palette to symbolize his relationship with money, and a colder one for his philosophical thoughts. These posters reference the page of a book, the essence of a text, breaking the conventional museum’s codes.
Rousseau’s quotations are extracted from eighteenth century facsimiles: these authentic worn off typefaces allow us to contextualize his thoughts (in his work, and his time). Color helped hierarchize the different speech levels, which allow us to grasp the content via different angles. Some of these posters were overprinted with practical info in order to spread excerpts of the exhibition in the city. Others were used as typographical templates in order to write money related anagrams: the word “brille” (shine) was displayed in the garden, and the word “libre” (free) was placed leaning on the house.
These unique letters, made from the facsimile’s layout, were overprinted with a mixture of metallic inks. In substance, the layers of ink are never complete (like maculas), and offer a poetic vision on this scientific content.

Context:
Pôle graphisme de Chaumont, 2009
Printed by:
Imprimerie du Petit-Cloître
Description:
120 × 176 cm
This poster, announcing a series of “graphic design and publishing” themed shows, isn’t a conventional image. It’s more of a printed object linked to its subject. The front, fully saturated with color and technical elements related to printing (scale 1), is offset printed with a very thin raster. This space saturation, like an obsessive canvas, presents graphical tools that are a common vocabulary for books makers. The title and info are printed on the back. The fold lets the title appear: the poster becomes informative and evokes at the same time the delicate materiality of a page.

Context:
Journal d’information du Pôle graphisme de Chaumont, 2009
Printed by:
Snel graphics
Description:
30 × 44 cm, 8 pages
The Pôle graphisme newspaper’s layout is not that remarkable. Its particularity comes from the fact that the content (text and images) of the newspaper itself becomes the actual convector of a colorful dynamic, like a screen. These two components meet and mingle in order to question the medium.

This text by Manuel Joseph gives brief but detailed instructions for tattooing oneself in prison using the materials available. The language is direct and layered, swinging between violence, cynicism and tenderness. The text is highly compressed and there is not sufficient material to make a book in the traditional sense of the word.
The appearance of the author’s text in its original state struck me as significant. The “default” aesthetics of Word, effective, spare and impoverished, provide a good point of departure for the layout. The book – or, more precisely, the brochure – is related to a Word text of four A4 sheets of paper, folded in half.
The text is stapled together with 3 metal staples (“morts aux vaches !” Death to all tyrants!) that stab the text through the heart as they bind it. They collide with a reading of the text that must be unstapled or else read “differently”.
The text undergoes strange distortions resembling tattoos, like slimy and organic “grafts”.
The brochure follows an “epidermic” progression moving from white leatherette to 60 gram offset paper.
Following the same evolving progression, the colour of the ink changes from black to the colour of a faded tattoo!

This text, written by Laure Limongi, consists of several thematic and formal layers: personal and collective history, the industrial techniques of glove making, the world of fairy tales, etc. Very structured while at the same time fluid and poetic, the writing imposes highly specific limits.
I wanted this book to borrow from the shape of a “book of fairy stories”: large format, thick cardboard cover, broad silk bookmark… like the Little Red Riding Hood running through the text but also from a desire to lend a ritual aspect to reading.
The colours used are in the cool range, reflecting the water and the presence of the forest on the edge of the town.
These colours are sometimes fresh and surreal (the deep blue of the dustjacket, the shimmering green of the cover…), sometimes soft (ambiguity of the watery-green of the inside of the book).
Hands are omnipresent, both as subject and object of the book: they work to produce gloves that will delicately encase other hands. But it is never a complete hand. On the blue leatherette dustjacket, it is hinted at with a glove pattern, a reference to the material and the process. Inside the book, ghostly gestures appear in the photograms inserted into the textual material.
Signs (dots and underlinings) reveal or emphasise the structure of the text and the logic of the writing. These formal elements suggest a kind of skeleton or cosmogony…

Produced by:
Parc Saint Léger, Centre d’art contemporain, 2008-2014
In designing the graphic identity of the Parc Saint Léger Centre for Contemporary Art I was able to create a coherent system of identification inspired by an image as moving and innovative as the centre’s artistic programme. Starting from very simple modules, I created an evolving graphic system. From this limited set of tools emerged the alphabet, typograms, signage and logos for the Parc Saint Léger.
The typogram is flexible, working on 5 lines or 3, in monochrome, bichrome or polychrome. The coloured versions, while remaining remarkably easy to read, allow the architecture of the letters to be seen and can be indefinitely reinvented, just like a dynamic artistic venture.
The signage consists of 2 large 3-D logos (one in colour and one in black) and several backlit panels, the display on which changes according to the programme.

The Chaumont : fictions (des livres bizarres) project that I initiated while artist-in-residence at Chaumont gave me the opportunity to explore the links between graphics and literature. I invited writers to produce a new piece of fiction in order to design a layout suggesting a story within a story.
The book consists of some thirty short texts related to trades or professions in that area of activity which is the world of work and which is becoming more and more confused with the world itself to the point where it is the only tangible reality…
The design relates to the alienation of the world of work. The ironic and dark dimension of the text is reinforced by the hybrid materiality of the book – part literature and part account book!
The materials are those of the workplace: carte de Lyon, Bristol board, school book covers, etc. The page layout is classic, in the style of a novel in a heavy font but camouflaged among the endless ruled lines of the register.
A spider’s web is embossed on the cover, ironic metaphor for the autistic organisation of the world of work and echoing the lines of a spreadsheet. The colours of the covers and the binding thread provide the opportunity for multiple different combinations. A tenth of the exemplars have been left with the pages uncut in homage to the literary works of the past.

Book by Céline Minard – Éditions Dissonances / Pôle graphisme de la Ville de Chaumont, 2008
Printed by:
Snel graphics
Description:
12 × 16 cm, 112 pages
This text, written during the period of my residence in Chaumont, is full of historical and cultural references: medieval manuscripts, kung-fu, manga, etc. So as to avoid repetition, I concentrated on the alien dimension of the writing and its hallucinatory energy.
I approached each double page spread with the idea that the text was “embodied”. Starting from the point where the double pages meet, I made adjustments to the typographic content… The black of the text formed by the overprinting of three spot colours (pink, yellow and blue) undergoes mutations that follow the rhythm of the narrative, gradually increasing in intensity. For this, I modified each of the three coloured layers and introduced typographical variations, both of form and colour, linked to the events of the story. The effect is to give a curious impression of energy emerging from the heart of the book, expanding with the rhythm of the narrative and challenging the classic structure of the work. The modifications are not systematic: fluid, diffuse or violent, they seem to arise from the text itself.
In view of the fact that the format, materials and layout are those of a paperback book, I preferred not to have a cover picture but rather a “cover” object.
From the outside, the book looks more like a black abstract shape.
The title, in relief, is almost imperceptible, like a ghost.

Produced for Festival, Cahors, 2008
Printed by:
Sérigraphie, Lézard graphique
Description:
120 × 176 cm
The festival L’art du goût, le goût de l’art is an artistic event involving taste and celebration that creates a bridge between creation (visual arts, literature, music, photography, etc.) and the art of cooking.
I produced an image archetypical of food and very different from the clichés of haute cuisine… A hamburger is first and foremost a sign. Here it has become a plastic hybrid object, enormous in size. Following the logic of both its subject and its object, the poster is arranged in a series of alternating layers: successive layers of colours and patterns interspersed with information…

Produced for the Festival international de l’affiche et du graphisme, Chaumont (2008)
Printed by:
Lézard graphique
Text by:
Laure Limongi
This signage system through the town was intended to be a journey of exploration.
As part of the Fontenew project, I designed a number of template posters with letters suitable for enlargement and display around the town.
A network in different fluorescent colours makes up the matrix. Large, simple lozenge-shaped stickers in translucent colours are then added in one of three possible positions (horizontal, vertical or superimposed).
The infinite possibilities offered by the combination and superimposition of the 18 colours and the interplay of materials give these posters a 3-D dimension.
The relationship with scale is notable: it is not possible to read the words until you move some distance away, in this urban context that reveals their poetry.
The words for this very specific experiment in poetic writing were contributed once more by Laure Limongi:“Entre chien et loup / les arbres / suaires / si / sereins au vent / crient le jour après / la nuit claire indécise” [Between dog and wolf the shroud trees so serene in the wind announce the day after the clear hesitant night]

Publisher:
Édition Marraine Ginette, 2008
Printed by:
Imprimerie du Marais
Description:
12 × 16 cm, 112 pages
This book by Ariadne Breton-Hourcq shows three series of photographs of slightly out-of-focus Chinese landscapes with very subtle contrasts. The repeating layout of the pages points up the delicate variations between the images and, as when looking out of a moving train, creates a “hypnotic” feeling.
This small book, very different from the usual appearance of books on photography, can be compared to a “notebook”. The photographs are contained within a “silent” cover, screen-printed onto which in transparent white is a shape resembling the arrangement of the photographs inside the book. The text appears in a coloured inner notebook. The typeface, composed of very small geometric forms, emits a vibration and demands the same concentration from the reader as do the images.
Variations of green run through the book: the blueish-green of the cover, an almost black green for the flyleaves, a bright yellow that makes the blue typeface appear green for the central pages and, finally, bright green thread to stich the binding.

Produced by the Pôle graphisme de la Ville de Chaumont, 2007-2008
Format:
13 × 17.5 cm, 32 pages
In designing this information brochure on the activities of the Pôle graphisme (Centre for Graphic Design), I chose to use just one typeface (Neue Helvetica), one weight (regular) and one point (12). The relative importance of the information and the structure of the brochure are conveyed purely by the use of colour. Different colours are used to highlight paragraph headings while main headings are reinforced by repetition of the words (four times for a main heading, twice for a sub-heading), the introduction is multi-coloured, etc. Displayed on the inside front and back covers is the array of graphic tools used for the brochure: the typeface and the colour chart.
Thus, although printed and manufactured in a conventional way (four-colour process printing on white offset paper), this brochure has an experimental dimension.